A group of top film firms have won a piracy case against a file-sharing site.
The UK High Court of Justice in London awarded an injunction against Newzbin, following a complaint from film makers with the Motion Picture Association (MPA), including Twentieth Century Fox and Disney.
Membership-only Usenet site Newzbin argued that it was essentially a search engine and doesn't host content, but the court disagreed.
In the ruling, the court said the site had 700,000 members and turnover above 1 million. "There is no doubt that the defendant has developed a very substantial business," the ruling said.
The MPA's general counsel for Europe Ted Sapiro welcomed the decision, saying it clarified European copyright laws.
"This is an important decision and it sends a clear message that websites focusing on providing viewers with pirated film and TV programmes infringe copyright and are liable for their actions even where those websites don't themselves host the content," he added.
Newzbin said the ruling was a waste of time. "Any of the material we index can be found on any one of thousands of sites on the internet so pursuit of us is a futile waste of everyone's time and money."
The terms of the injunction and any penalties will be announced later this week.
UK politicians are set to consider a bill that would give the Government the ability to shut down websites for hosting pirated content.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolenNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
Lateral moves in tech: Why leaders should support employee mobilityIn-depth Encouraging staff to switch roles can have long-term benefits for skills in the tech sector
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the last
News Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
New malware uses search engine ads to target pirate gamersNews MosaicLoader uses advanced obfuscation techniques to avoid detection
-
US big tech suffers as federal privacy bill delayedNews Firms must comply with California's strict data laws in lieu of a federal bill
-
Liberty defeated in ‘snooper’s charter’ legal challengeNews High court rules the government’s Investigatory Powers Act doesn’t breach human rights
-
Premium email firm Superhuman ends pixel tracking after backlashNews The email plugin startup removed read receipts by default after accusations of surveillance
-
GDPR is not enough to win back customer trustIn-depth When it comes to building new services, industry experts believe there should be a collective responsibility for data security
-
UK Prisons trial facial recognition to stop drug smugglersNews Biometric technology used to catch visitors supplying contraband
-
South Wales Police given ultimatum to drop facial recognition techNews Ex-councillor Ed Bridges has given the force two weeks to drop tech that "violates privacy rights"
